I have tried many diets myself, and the one that worked the best was the least fun. Portion control being top of the list for weight loss, any meat you eat should be lean, protein is important to your body, but it needs to be lean. Remember, a serving of meat should be the size of a deck of cards
2nd would be saturated fat content. After that watch carbohydrates, don't eat anything "white" ... no white rice, no white bread, nothing with white flour, etc. Drink a lot of water, and I mean a lot. Eat brown rice instead of white, eat whole grain or 7 grain breads instead of white, no fried foods either ... real bad stuff there (even though it's one of my favorite
) No sodas period, not even diet ... diet soda still has a ton of sugar-product that does not get processed. When you drink water, make it cold water ... it has been proven that cold water actually improves your metabolism. Not only will it help you lose weight by giving your body what it is 80% made up of ... but it increases your metabolism
and fills you up. You also should treat yourself once a week with a cheat food, as your body craves things it likes like pizza, burgers, sweets, etc. Don't go overboard though, remember portion control. But it's proven that treating your body once a week helps you lose weight simply because your body will plateau if if feels it's being starved ... this should be remembered on the low calorie diet ... don't go too low, there is such a thing. If you starve ... your body over reacts and holds on to every ounce of weight it can.
Exercise is another key, start low grade with stretching ... this is a workout to someone who does not workout or is not in good cardiovascular shape. Try stretching nearly every muscle you can for about 30 minutes every other day for 2 weeks. Then work your way up to walking on the days in between for a mile ... then when comfortable, try a slow jog for 30 seconds then slow to a walk for 60 seconds, then slow jog for 30 seconds and so on for no less than 20 minutes ... anything less than 20 minutes does you very little good metabolically speaking. When exercising, always keep in mind you should be striving to increase your performance at a steady rate. After the walk/jog series of 60/30 for 3 weeks, go to 60/60, then in 3 weeks go 60/90. Do this until you can run the entire mile. After this, you start to increase distance to earn endurance which will by proxy improve your metabolism and cardiovascular health.
I'm not the picture of health anymore, I drink and eat what I want now, but I used to be. Not only was I in the military and came out in top shape, I continued my exercise to another level for about 8 more years. I learned about nutrition through constant reading, I went from a hard 180 lbs with 3% body fat, to a hard 242 lbs with about 7%-8% bodyfat (still cut and ripped). I maintained focus through competition, I out-lifted everyone around me out of determination and I could out swim or out run any of them. It was simple friendly competition that helped ... finding someone you know that would be willing to diet and exercise with you would help you immensely, if not for competition, then support is always there.
I certainly agree with all of the "See your physician" comments, everyone's body works differently, and even though I have trained others successfully (in person and not over the internet) ... I do not know your health like you and your doctor.